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Tucker Carlson called Kevin McCarthy a ‘puppet of the Democratic Party’ after leaked audio revealed the lawmaker had wondered if Twitter could censor…

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was heard making the comments in leaked audio recordings obtained by The New York Times.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Tucker Carlson called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a "puppet of the Democratic Party."

The comment came after audio was leaked of McCarthy mulling Twitter censorship for some GOP lawmakers.

Carlson said that McCarthy is "a man who, in private, sounds like an MSNBC contributor."

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday slammed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, calling him a "puppet" of the Democratic Party.

Carlson's statements came after The New York Times published a bombshell report detailing how McCarthy was concerned about GOP lawmakers like Rep. Matt Gaetz and their potential for inciting violence following the January 6 Capitol riot.

The Times also highlighted how McCarthy, in leaked audio recordings obtained by the outlet, had mulled the possibility of censoring GOP lawmakers.

"Can't they take their Twitter accounts away, too?" McCarthy was heard saying on a call, likely referring to how former President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter after the riot.

During his show on Tuesday, Carlson criticized McCarthy for what the lawmaker said on the call.

"Kevin McCarthy of California told his close friend, Liz Cheney, that he hoped the social media companies would censor more conservative Republicans in the Congress," Carlson said, adding that Trump had been "silenced by those companies" during his presidency.

Carlson noted McCarthy had also expressed a desire to have "tech oligarchs" take more steps to "force disobedient lawmakers off the internet."

Commenting on McCarthy's suggestion to remove some parties from Twitter, Carlson said: "Those are the tape-recorded words of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, a man who in private turns out sounds like an MSNBC contributor."

The Fox News host also warned that McCarthy or "one of his highly liberal allies" would likely become Speaker of the House if conservatives didn't "get their act together right away."

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"And that would mean we will have a Republican Congress led by a puppet of the Democratic Party," Carlson added.

Last week, The Times reported that McCarthy had told House GOP members he planned to ask Trump to resign after the Capitol riot. McCarthy had earlier denied making those comments, both in response to multiple media outlets and in a statement posted on his Twitter account.

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Tucker Carlson called Kevin McCarthy a 'puppet of the Democratic Party' after leaked audio revealed the lawmaker had wondered if Twitter could censor...

Explained: Julian Assange extradition order and charges against the Wikileaks founder – The Indian Express

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A London court on Wednesday ordered the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, the latest but not the last step in a long-running battle in British courtrooms. The order to extradite Assange, who is being sought by the US in connection with charges under the Espionage Act, must be signed by the British home secretary, Priti Patel. Assange has four weeks to appeal to her directly, and he also has the right to take his case to the English High Court after she issues her decision.

We take a look back at what the case is against the WikiLeaks founder and why has the trial dragged on for so long.

Why is Assange wanted in the US?

On April 5, 2010, a 39-minute video was released by a website called wikileaks.org that showed gun-sight footage of two US AH-64 Apache helicopters in action during the Iraqi insurgency against the US occupation in 2007. The video showed the helicopter crew firing indiscriminately and killing civilians and two Reuters war correspondents. For nearly three years, Reuters had sought access to this video that would have shed light on the killing of its correspondents, via the US Freedom of Information Act but had failed.

Assange has been wanted by the US since 2010 when WikiLeaks released nearly 4,00,000 documents called the Iraq War Logs from the US Department of Defense databases by the intelligence analyst Bradley Manning (who later referred to herself as Chelsea), who acted as a whistle-blower. Manning had copied these files into a CD-ROM and uploaded them onto a WikiLeaks dropbox.

WikiLeaks promptly released the war logs that were published by a host of media organisations and exposed human rights abuses by occupation forces besides the increased fatality counts in Iraq. Later, WikiLeaks also published then presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons aide John Podestas emails before the 2016 presidential elections. While the WikiLeaks portal was maintained and sustained by hundreds of volunteers, the site was represented publicly by its founder and director Julian Assange. In December 2018, the website also published a searchable database of more than 16,000 procurement requests that were made by US embassies around the world.

The WikiLeaks model using cryptographic tools to protect sources and allowing for anonymous leaks of sensitive information (that could also be in public interest) to be published suddenly brought forth a new model of extensive investigative journalism into areas that were relatively kept in the dark from the public eye.

What were the charges brought against him?

The Barack Obama administration started investigation of the Manning leaks, and Manning was convicted by court martial in July 2013 for violating the Espionage Act and underwent rigorous imprisonment before her sentence was commuted in January 2017. However, the administration had decided that it would not pursue criminal charges against Assange and WikiLeaks.

Things changed under former President Donald Trump as he charged Assange of collaborating in a conspiracy with Manning to crack the password of a Defence Department network to publish classified documents and communications on WikiLeaks in a sealed indictment in April 2017. These charges were unsealed in 2019.

Later, the Trump administration further charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and he was indicted on 17 new charges related to the Act at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. These charges carry a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison.

The trial in the UK

Assange waged a prolonged legal battle against his extradition following his arrest in London in 2019, after he spent seven years holed up inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in an effort to avoid detention. After then Ecuador President Lenin Moreno revoked his asylum and his citizenship on April 11, 2019, following Assanges disputes with Ecuador authorities, he underwent imprisonment for 50 weeks for bail violations during his refuge at the Ecuador Embassy in London.

A district judge, Vanessa Baraitser, ruled in January 2021 that he could not be extradited to the US because of concerns about his mental health and the possibility of suicide in a US prison with stringent incarceration conditions. However, bail was denied to Assange as he was assessed as a flight risk and US prosecutors were allowed an appeal which they filed on January 15, 2021.

On December 10, 2021, the High Court ruled in favour of the US following the Joe Biden administrations assurances on the terms of Assanges possible incarceration that it would not hold him at the highest security prison facility and that if he were convicted, he could serve his sentence in his native Australia if he requested it.

Assange appealed against the verdict in the British Supreme Court, but on March 14, the Court refused permission to appeal. Finally, a London court this week ordered the extradition.

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Explained: Julian Assange extradition order and charges against the Wikileaks founder - The Indian Express

BREAKING: The Onion Has Been Permanently Banned From Twitter – The Onion

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

In a sudden, inexplicable, and chilling act of censorship, The Onion has been permanently banned from Twitter. This is a dark day for journalism and sets a grim precedent for the freedom of expression in America.

On Apr. 21, 2022, The Onion was found guilty of the truth in a sham trial presided over by Judge Jack Dorsey and his jury of sycophant moderators. We now publish this press release on our Twitter account in a desperate effort to show these corporate tyrants that their barbarity will not go unchallenged.

The truth perishes in the night.

We call on all defenders of free speech to retweet our tweet about Twitter banning us. Feel free to quote-tweet our tweet too, but only to say something nice. Dont let Twitter get away with this.

This is a tragic moment in the history of Americas Finest News Source. Our reporters are deeply troubled by this unfounded attack on their principles, and many of them say they no longer recognize the website they live in. We havent seen such a brutal challenge to the notion of a free press since a chlamydia outbreak in our newsroom back in 2012 rendered most of our staff unable to work.

In that painful, secretion-filled summer, as now, The Onion could only imagine what nefarious forces were really behind an attempt to muzzle us. We suspect that our Twitter ban is but the end of a thread that, once unraveled, would lead us deep into Americas chasm of lies. We wish we could find out who these shadowy powers are, but we cant, obviously, because Twitter banned us. Keep up.

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Sadly, this is not The Onions first time being silenced. Weve long suspected that Facebook shadow-banned us in 2015 when our finances nosedived because Facebook censored the fact that they were just making up engagement numbers. We also surmise that hidden powers have colluded to gag us by placing so many ads on our website as to render it functionally unreadable. Finally, a glance at the New York Times bestseller list reveals not a single one of The Onions many books, a clear act of journalist-on-journalist censorship with horrific significance. Each one of these fearless volumes is not only a treasure trove of reportage, but a brave paean to the very notion of a free and fair press. We urge all those who want to avoid becoming complicit in censorship to buy a copy.

Yet we know we are not alone. Every day, journalists, activists, and political truth-tellers are censored for their views in a bunch of examples that we didnt feel like looking up. While these suppressions naturally dont compare with what weve suffered, they were nonetheless stepping stones on the path to the wanton annihilation of The Onions Twitter presence. If nothing else, we hope that our tweetannouncing our Twitter ban will stand as a testament to the creeping rise of authoritarianism online, and presumably offline as well.

If youre reading this because you clicked the link on Twitter, youll understand the gravity of the situation. Youll know that we stand athwart a pivotal moment in the arc of history, when journalists and lesser Americans must decide on our collective future. We must determine whether the right to speak freely is something we value, or whether we will consign it to the dustbin of history alongside voting rights, housing rights, privacy rights, and all the other human rights that are already there and are frankly too complicated to deal with. The choice is oursor rather, Twitters. Or maybe its still ours. Or yours? Were not sure.

We urge our readership to stay with us as the situation develops. The easiest way to get the latest updates on our Twitter ban is by following us on Twitter.

If Americas Finest News Source can be the victim of mass suppression, no one is safe.

###

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BREAKING: The Onion Has Been Permanently Banned From Twitter - The Onion

Last Call for 4.25.22 A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics – Florida Politics

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Last Call A prime-time read of whats going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk reached an agreement to buy Twitter for $44 billion on Monday, and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis is a fan of the move.

Patronis, echoing the sentiment of many other Republican politicians, asserted the acquisition would prevent the social network from silencing certain viewpoints conservatives have accused Twitter and other social media companies of blocking or shadow banning users who post controversial opinions online.

The CFO also used the announcement to ask Musk once again to bring business to the Sunshine State he previously called for the Tesla founder to move production facilities to Florida, among other things.

This acquisition is both a win for free speech and a win for Floridas pension system. With Elon now in full control of the company, I will continue my campaign of attracting Twitter to Florida, Patronis said.

While I do believe Elon has the right intentions, he will be battling a culture that lives, works and plays in San Francisco, which is the epicenter of wokeness, groupthink and speech codes. No doubt, Elons pro-freedom sentiments, as well as Twitters margins, would benefit from a move to the Sunshine State.

We have no income tax, we love freedom, and we believe in public safety. With Elon at the helm, Florida and Twitter would be a match made in heaven.

Musk seems like he will deliver on the censorship front he has described himself as a free-speech absolutist. However, whether the little blue bird migrates east remains to be seen.

___

Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging Congress to pass the Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022.

The legislation would address gaps in support for public safety officers who suffer from job-related post-traumatic stress disorder as a line-of-duty injury, making them eligible for certain benefits. The legislation would also allow families of officers who die from trauma-linked suicide to apply for death benefits.

The Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022 would apply to public safety personnel, including police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. Compared to the general public, public safety workers are 25.6 times more likely to develop PTSD, which increases the risk of suicide.

According to BlueHelp.org, more than 220 first responders nationwide have taken their own lives since 2021, including 20 from Florida.

Not all scars suffered while serving the public are visible, and sometimes its the invisible scars that take the longest to heal, Moody said. Law enforcement officers suffer these mental scars in service to us, so the least we can do is support them in the healing process. That is why I am supporting the Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022 and encouraging Congress to also support this necessary piece of legislation.

Moody expressed her support in a letter to Congress signed by attorneys general from 52 other states and territories.

The letter reads, in part, Each of our jurisdictions is served by thousands of brave first responders who show up for us in tragic situations every day. Now we need to show up for them. These individuals deserve access to quality treatment, and their loved ones deserve the benefits they have earned.

Evening Reads

Will Black voters punch back at the polls against Ron DeSantis over redistricting map? via Zac Anderson and Mark Harper of the Tallahassee Democrat

The extreme bias of Floridas new congressional map via Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight

DeSantis endorses Wilton Simpson for Agriculture Commissioner via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics

How Floridas war with Disney could change the park experience via Hannah Sampson of The Washington Post

Dear Disney: Will you fight back vs. DeSantis, Florida? (Im not sure you need to.) via Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel

DeSantiss attack on Disney obviously violates the First Amendment via Ian Millhiser of Vox

He fuels the rights cultural fires (and spreads them to Florida) via Trip Gabriel of The New York Times

Ahead of election, Gov. DeSantis approval nears 60% via Caden DeLisa of The Capitolist

Charlies message is resonating: Shevrin Jones endorses Charlie Crist for Governor via Jesse Scheckner of Florida Politics

Mitch McConnells nightmare scenario via Russell Berman of The Atlantic

As lawmakers avert their eyes, condo insurers flee Florida or jack up prices post-Surfside via Ben Conarck of the Miami Herald

Elon Musk agrees to buy Twitter in $44 billion deal via Cara Lombardo, Meghan Bobrowsky and Georgia Wells of The Wall Street Journal

Quote of the Day

I got rid of my Disney+. Im not planning on going back to the park.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, swearing off the Happiest Place on Earth.

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Last Call for 4.25.22 A prime-time read of what's going down in Florida politics - Florida Politics

5 Ways to Get TikTok Account Unbanned and Reasons You Got Banned – NerdsChalk

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The growing pains of making a follower base on TikTok is something youd never want to start from scratch again if you can help it, right? But, TikTok sometimes has different plans as you might wake up one day with an upsetting account ban.

If you find this scenario resonating a bit too much with your current situation, then it is time to pick yourself up again. We have gathered here for you all the legitimate ways to appeal an account ban on TikTok.

There are many reasons for an account to get banned, however, the foundation of it is the violation of one or multiple clauses in the TikTok community guidelines. The graver the nature of the offense, the more severe the penalty.

There are 4 kinds of bans on TikTok and 3 of them are related to the account. They are shadow bans (which block your videos from other users For You page); temporary bans (account suspension for a certain period of time limiting account activity like video uploading), permanent bans (account gets permanently removed), and live stream ban (when you are banned from participating or commenting in a certain live stream).

The first step to getting your TikTok account unbanned is figuring out the cause that triggered such action from TikTok.

Related: If I Turn Off Profile Views on TikTok, Will They Know?

The nature of bans on TikTok can be classified into two temporary and permanent. If your account gets temporarily banned, you will be restricted from posting videos or engaging in certain activities on your account through the course of the period of suspension. The period of suspension is determined on the basis of the nature or severity of the guideline violation and it may take from 24 to 48 hours for it to be lifted.

Be it temporary or permanent, TikTok notifies you of the event. So, if the message informs you that your account is temporarily suspended, then there is still hope for you to recover the account. Shadow bans and temporary bans lift themselves after a certain period of time without any action from your end.

On the other hand, if your account gets banned on a permanent basis, then, hate to break it to you, you just cannot get it back. TikTok only sentences an account to a permanent ban when the user is directly found to have committed some unpardonable offense like multiple and repeated violations of community guidelines, or propagation and participation in criminal, anti-social, illegal, or violent activities or propaganda.

Related: How to Add Friends on TikTok in 5 Ways: Step-by-step guide

Shadowbanning can be considered as a soft ban that keeps your video from reaching the target audiences For You page or showing up under relevant tags. The direct consequence is a stark plummet in the viewer engagement with your content in terms of views, comments, and likes.

If you notice that your videos are receiving a little less attention than they used to, then it is because you have been shadowbanned. The reasons for getting shadowbanned include hashtag stuffing, community guideline violation, any problem with the quality of content you upload, or resorting to illegitimate means to gain followers or viewer traction.

If TikTok catches you using third-party apps or mediums to gain fake followers or bot engagements, consider yourself immediately shadowbanned. Using VPNs is similarly grossly frowned upon by TikTok devs, which leads to the imposition of temporary bans or shadowbans.

Shadowbans may last for a few days or up to 2 weeks depending on the charge levied on you. To fix shadowbans, you can use the Report a problem under account settings to use the Support Tickets feature to contact the TikTok help desk we shall break down the steps involved shortly, hang on!

If you commit a relatively serious or multiple violations of its community guidelines, TikTok doesnt hesitate to slap you with a temporary ban on your account whereby you cannot use the account for significant engagement like posting new content. You will also receive a notification in the Inbox informing you that your account has been temporarily suspended.

For a first-time offense, you could get away with 24-48 hour limitations or account suspension to a view-only state for up to 72 hours (during this period, you wont be able to upload videos, or leave likes or comments.) The punitive measures taken depend upon the gravity of your offense and how frequently you violate community guidelines.

Finally, if you test TikToks zero-tolerance policies, then, you can only nurse the wounds of a lost account as TikTok doesnt waste any time but would directly impose a permanent ban on any account that disregards its caveats to refrain from any of the forbidden activities like promoting or engaging in activities related to terrorism, ammunition or arms, human or drug trafficking, pornography, abusive behavior, harassment, and blackmailing, etc.

Well, if you are under 13 and discovered by TikTok, that is also a reason to get your account permanently banned. Sometimes, TikTok fortifies it with a ban on the device itself to stop you from creating new accounts on that device.

Related: How to Remove Watermark on TikTok Video

The only way to get an account ban repealed is by making an appeal with the TikTok Support desk and there are 5 ways to reach out to TikTok to do this. Lets take a detailed look at each method now.

When your account gets a temporary ban, you will get notified in the Inbox about the event.

Step 1: Launch TikTok.

Step 2: Tap the Inbox icon to view the notifications.

Step 3: You will see the system notification informing you about the ban. Tap Appeal to request account recovery.

A plain and direct way to make an appeal on TikTok to reverse an account ban is through the Support Tickets feature. Here is how it is done.

Launch TikTok.

Tap the profile icon to go to your profile.

Hit the burger button on the top right corner.

Tap Settings and privacy.

Under SUPPORT, tap Report a problem.

Tap the writing board icon on the top-right corner of the screen.

You will land on the Your feedback page. Tap the compose icon on the top right corner of the page.

In the text box enter your message. Make sure to compose it with a personal touch explaining your plight and appeal well. If you have media to substantiate a reasonable cause to reinstate your account, tap the picture and video icons to attach them accordingly.

Tap Reportto submit the request.

It typically takes anywhere between 1 to 3 days to get a response from the help desk, however, it might take longer (like really long) to get a reply or any form of acknowledgment. So, hang in there! Help should be on the way as long as you have valid reasons to claim back your account.

Related: How to Save TikTok Videos Without Posting

TikTok has more than one official email account always ready to receive feedback or offer redressal to user complaints. If you dont get any satisfactory reply following the Support Tickets route mentioned above, you can try emailing the official TikTok feedback reception.

Open your choice email service provider. For demonstration, we shall go with Gmail and tap Compose on the left side panel.

In theTofield, enter the address [emailprotected]Send the content of the email separately to each of the following email IDs as well [emailprotected], in[emailprotected], and [emailprotected].

Enter a short and appropriate subject line. In the composition box, explain your situation with specific details related to when your account got banned, and reasons (if any) to justify why you believe or behest the account to be reinstated. Attach files if necessary.

HitSend and wait for a reply from TikTok Help.

feedbacktiktok.com is reputed to give fast responses or solutions to users. So, you should get an acknowledgment and solution to your problem without much delay.

Related: How to repost on TikTok

Launch TikTok.

Tap the profile icon to go to your profile.

Hit the burger button on the top right corner.

Tap Settings and privacy.

Under SUPPORT, tap Report a problem.

TapAccount and profileunder Topics.

TapProfile page to expand.

Select Other from the options.

On the Report a problem page, tap Need more help?to proceed.

In the text box enter your message. Make sure to compose it with a personal touch explaining your plight and appeal well. If you have media to substantiate a reasonable cause to reinstate your account, tap the picture and video icons to attach them accordingly.

Tap Reportto submit the request.

It takes a few days for the TikTok team to get back to you. So, dont get disheartened if you do not hear from them immediately.

Related: Does TikTok Notify When You Save Someones Video?

Share your feedback form allows you to intimate TikTok team with issues or problems with user experience or account. It is a direct portal to contact TikTok Help regarding your banned or suspended account.

Go to Share your feedback page.

Enter your email id in the designated text box.

Username is not a mandatory field. Fill it out if you find it necessary.

Tap the dropbox to select Account ban/suspension for the Topic.

In the dropbox under Tell us more, you will find the following options Livestream, banned account (not age-related), banned account (age-related), and Other. Select one according to your situation.

In the text box, input a detailed and personalized message informing them about the issue at hand and how you hope to get it resolved.

If you have photos or videos to supplement your argument or request, tap Uploadto attach related files.

Tap both the checkboxes to agree with the Declaration statements.

Finally, tapSubmit to complete the process.

It might take a few days before you get a reply from TikTok help. So. dont lose hope yet if no action or response immediately follows your submission.

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5 Ways to Get TikTok Account Unbanned and Reasons You Got Banned - NerdsChalk

Jimmy Kimmel Weighs-in on Not De-Platforming Joe Rogan: Its Not as Black and White as Sometimes the Media Makes It Out to Be – EssentiallySports

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Popular American talk show (Jimmy Kimmel Live) host, Jimmy Kimmel, shared his opinions on the controversies surrounding longtime UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan. The former Fear Factor host has been a subject of scrutiny by the media ever since his podcast erupted into the mainstream. He has been facing flak for his views and opinions around a plethora of topics.

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One of the recent instances was when musician Neil Young asked Spotify, a music platform that holds exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, to de-platform Joe Rogan for the content he shared via his podcast.

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However, Jimmy Kimmel had a different opinion. In an exclusive interview with Kara Swisher of The New York Times for her Sway podcast, Kimmel shared his views on the topic.

He said, I dont necessarily think that anybody should be shut up. I wish people would pay attention to the facts and I wish people were just consistent.

I think that probably most of what he says is entertaining and fun to listen to But I also know that its not as black and white as sometimes the media makes it out to be.

Rogan himself holds similar views with regard to free speech and believes that no one should be allowed to dictate what should be said or not.

Joe Rogan has always been a person who puts his opinions on the front without worrying about the backlash he will get. His conversation with former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson also saw him doing the same thing.

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On the Hotboxin podcast with Mike Tyson, the UFC color commentator stated his wish for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to buy Twitter.

I hope he buys Twitter because hes committed to the idea of free speech. We cant have people dictating what people can talk, said Rogan. They did some things where they wouldnt allow people to get links to certain news stories they thought would be unfavorable towards particular candidates. Like that sh*ts dangerous.

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WATCH THIS STORY- Conor McGregors Super-Human Body Transformation After The Horrific Injury At UFC 264

What are your thoughts on Jimmy Kimmels opinion on the recent Joe Rogan controversies? Let us know in the comments below.

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Jimmy Kimmel Weighs-in on Not De-Platforming Joe Rogan: Its Not as Black and White as Sometimes the Media Makes It Out to Be - EssentiallySports

Who did Twitter ban during the Trump era, and why? – Los Angeles Times

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With Elon Musk buying Twitter, theres speculation that former President Trump and many of his allies could have their bans lifted.

During the Trump era, Twitter barred many on the far right, including extremist groups, from using the platform. A number of Trump supporters were kicked off for spreading falsehoods, inciting or advocating violence, harmful activity or other violations of Twitter rules.

De-platforming can limit the spread of harmful speech, including misinformation and disinformation, studies have shown. Amy Bruckman, a Georgia Tech professor of interactive computing and a lead author on one study, said that the prevalence of ideas spread by three far-right or conspiracy-theorist figures went down dramatically after their Twitter accounts were disabled. The toxicity of their followers went down after they were kicked off, she said.

If such figures were to be reinstated, Bruckman said, the ideas come back and the toxicity of their followers comes back too.

Musk has hinted in several tweets that he hopes to overhaul Twitters content moderation policy. I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy, he wrote in a regulatory filing, adding that the company would not fulfill that potential in its current form.

The tech billionaire has not publicly committed to reinstating any banned user and has made no comments regarding Trump, who has said he has no plans to return to Twitter even if his access is restored.

Here is why Trump and others from his orbit were banned:

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Who did Twitter ban during the Trump era, and why? - Los Angeles Times

The Unholy Alliance Between the US Security Apparatus and Big Tech – Fair Observer

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A group of security heavyweights in the US has issued what it labels an Open Letter from Former Defense, Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Cyber Officials Calling for National Security Review of Congressional Tech Legislation. These wise custodians of the national interest employ their unimpeachable moral authority to claim that US tech monopolies with names like Google, Amazon and Twitter should be regarded as indispensable pillars of national security. Thanks to their ability to mobilize massive power not only over public communication channels but also over the average citizens thought and behavior, these oh so vulnerable monopolies must be protected from interference by legislators or other busybodies seeking to limit the reach of their defensive power.

That power now includes the indispensable capacity to censor and even suppress inconvenient viewpoints in the sacred name of national security. But instead of resorting to direct censorship, which most people in a democracy continue to condemn as a violation of free speech, the technology monopolies use a range of discretionary tools that include deplatforming, demonetizing and much more subtle, indeed arcane algorithmic disappearing techniques. The truth those monopolies defend happens to correlate with whatever the security establishment wants people to think of as the truth.

Implementing this policy requires the kind of Manichean thinking that all authoritarian regimes but certainly not democracies traditionally encourage. They insist that theirs is the way of light and that everything else is darkness. No other voice needs to be heard, since allowing it to speak might obscure the light. Good must prevail and evil be suppressed.

Concerning the current conflict in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine, two nations with an impossibly tangled history, our security experts do not hesitate to congratulate the tech monopolies for their brilliant work. U.S. technology platforms, they affirm, have already taken concrete steps to shine a light on Russias actions to brutalize Ukraine. Through their efforts, the world knows what is truly happening in cities from Mariupol to Kiev, undistorted by manipulation from Moscow.

Todays Weekly Devils Dictionary definition:

The quoted sentences above contain two interesting distortions. The first is of course the Manichean assumption that the narratives the platforms choose not to suppress can be compared to the purity of light passing through a vacuum. Photons, after all, tell no lies. But all media, including social media, invent narratives that select the objects we are allowed to see. Even more significantly, they have the power to suppress the objects we are not allowed to see. Light lands where they choose it to land.

The second is the claim that because of the selections made by the media, the world knows what is truly happening. Only people or institutions with authoritarian instincts claim to know what is truly happening. And they do so knowing that they have the power to misrepresent the truth. In the era of deep fakes and monopolistic media, even in times of peace, nobody can legitimately claim to know what is truly happening. In times of war, propaganda takes over public discourse. Denying that is a patent lie. In times of war, honest citizens seriously curious about the truth should learn to distrust any of the narratives they are invited to consume.

The authors of the letter to Congress make it clear that the current war, which does not officially involve the US, is nevertheless a combat of virtue against vice. This is a pivotal moment in modern history they assert. There is a battle brewing between authoritarianism and democracy, and the former is using all the tools at its disposal, including a broad disinformation campaign and the threat of cyberattacks, to bring about a change in the global order. Any astute observer might notice that the same sentence would be just as true if we substituted latter for former. And whether there really is a battle between authoritarianism and democracy is itself a contestable proposition.

Democracies, and more particularly the United States, have learned to use the idea of war to become increasingly authoritarian in their own methods of government. It is easy to see that, over the past 70 year, the US has been far more enterprising and innovative in creating new tools of authoritarian control than many governments that pay less lip service to democracy.

From its first days in office, the Biden administration has insisted on framing its foreign policy along the lines of a new Cold War. This time the foes are not called capitalism and communism. The battle has been rechristened as a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. But nothing prevents authoritarian regimes and democracies to live in peace, without interfering in each others affairs. The idea that this is a battle is not an innocent metaphor. It serves to justify ever expanding military budgets and a commitment to global military domination.

This group of former Defense, Intelligence, Homeland Security, and Cyber Officials who drafted the letter to Congress are by definition not just members of what some now appropriately call the military-industrial-congressional complex; they are its principle ideologues. These individuals tend to collaborate either with the notorious Washington think tanks, literally paid by corporate masters to invent policy and ideology that reflects their interests, serve as lobbyists for the defense industry or they work for the mainstream media and are presented as respected voices brought in to instruct Americans on what they should truly believe. Alas, the light they shine on public affairs resembles not a series of innocent photons but an offensive laser beam intended to blind the public to a reality they desperately want to see hidden from view.

In times of war, democracies traditionally fail at respecting their own democratic values. Could that phenomenon explain why some democracies have a predilection for always being involved in war? Most nations, democratic or not, cannot afford the luxury of permanent war. Only a nation whose money has been accepted as the dominant global reserve currency can allow itself to engage in perennial war.

The history of the United States concerning its relations with the rest of the world throughout the 20th century turns almost exclusively around the theme of financing war. It includes the management of war-related debt and the privileged status of its currency. Hesitating at first to enter World War I, the United States nevertheless began supplying weapons to the Allies. It belatedly joined the fray to ensure the defeat of Germany.

With the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was condemned to paying reparations to the Allies. But the European allies were held accountable for a massive debt to the United States corresponding to its contribution to their victory. The mismanagement of that debt which could have been forgiven as a means of relieving tensions related to a global depression that began on Wall Street had the effect of aggravating nationalistic rivalries in Europe. This in turn contributed directly to the outbreak of World War II.

The same story of debt repayments was repeated after World War II, once again brought to a conclusion thanks to the industrial capacity of the United States. The European allies of World War I were still paying off their debt from three decades earlier when they found themselves saddled with new debt. This forced them to abandon their global empires, which they could no longer support and implicitly transfer the wealth those former colonies represented to the nation that, with its stock of gold, had become the worlds creditor. The US dollars became unequivocally the global reserve currency.

For more than two decades, following the Bretton Woods agreement, the US was theoretically obliged to ensure the convertibility of dollars to gold. But the appetite for building a neocolonial military presence across the face of the globe, spawning an endless series of wars and regime change operations, turned the US from the worlds creditor to its principal debtor. To rescue the US economy, President Richard Nixon unilaterally rescinded the convertibility of dollars to gold in 1971. From that point on, the already established status of the dollar as the dominant reserve currency meant that every creditor nation had no choice but to hold US Treasury bonds, effectively transferring the wealth their economies were generating back to the United States.

In more recent times, with the rise of China and what is perceived as the threat of a multipolar world in which wealth may be more equitably created and distributed, the US security apparatus has decided to justify its dominance by calling its global mission a battle between democracy and authoritarianism.

They have chosen American tech platforms private businesses run by narcissistic billionaires specialized in the art of modeling their customers behavior and thought as the privileged vectors of the propaganda required to conduct a mission that reflects their Manichean view of the world. Those struggling monopolies must now be protected at all costs from the potentially irresponsible decisions of elected members of Congress. Whatever they say or publish will be deemed the truth. Billionaires understand the importance of such a relationship. Unless, of course, Elon Musk, the biggest of the billionaires, having just taken over Twitter, chooses to upset the security experts plan.

That, however, seems unlikely. His style is quirky but upsetting security plans simply is not his style.

*[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce, produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devils Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of The Fair Observer Devils Dictionary.]

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

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The Unholy Alliance Between the US Security Apparatus and Big Tech - Fair Observer

‘More tears and tantrums on Twitter are guaranteed’ – The Week UK

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on Twitter tantrums

Twitter favours explosive over-reaction, which could be one reason for the deranged response to the announcement of Elon Musks takeover, says Madeline Grant in The Telegraph. Social media users responded as if this were digital armageddon, the end of the world as we know it. But there have been occasions when Twitter has stifled free speech in the past de-platforming Trump, yet allowing Taliban leaders to tweet, for example. And during the pandemic, we repeatedly saw social media moderators often using their powers to silence particular viewpoints, Grant writes. Shouldnt we welcome someone who wants to spend their own money unwinding these sorts of attitudes, assuming Twitter doesnt become toxic and unusable? Whatever the uncertainty is about Twitters future, it is scarcely enough to justify the hyperbole. What we can guarantee, though, is that whatever direction he takes the platform in, well see more tears and tantrums from its most prolific users.

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'More tears and tantrums on Twitter are guaranteed' - The Week UK

Red Hat Expands Capabilities to Provide Streamlined Application Development and Delivery in the Cloud – Business Wire

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RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced Red Hat Application Foundations, a connected set of application services that together with Red Hat OpenShift, help accelerate containerized application development and delivery across hybrid and multicloud environments. Red Hat Application Foundations serves as a toolkit for organizations looking to quickly build and integrate application and data services as part of their application and infrastructure modernization strategy.

Investing in the cloud for modern application infrastructure

The pace of application development is continuing to accelerate. According to industry analyst firm IDC, by 2025, 750 million new logical applications are expected to exist.1 With this growth, development to deployment time frames need to be condensed. In order for developers to quickly develop and update software applications to meet the needs of the business, they need self-service access to an application platform with a low barrier to entry that is simple to use and enables more consistent deployment across hybrid and multi clouds.

Red Hat OpenShift, the industrys leading enterprise Kubernetes platform, provides a unified, security-focused hybrid cloud application platform for innovation. Powered by containers and Kubernetes, it provides a foundation for modernizing existing applications, building cloud-native applications, streamlining development, adding intelligence to applications, and integrating third-party services. Through Red Hat OpenShift, developers with a range of technical knowledge can feel empowered to create sophisticated applications. In addition to modernizing existing applications and supporting new cloud-native development, it provides intelligence and data services for cloud-native apps.

Creating the foundation for scalable applications

Red Hat Application Foundations offers developers an integrated solution designed to connect applications both within and outside of the container environment. It is designed and optimized for OpenShift, bringing key application services and components to help developers employ cloud-native application patterns and swiftly bring their applications to customers. With this set of capabilities, developers can more easily create and integrate applications that range in complexity for efficient and scalable execution across hybrid cloud environments.

A toolbox of key application services, Red Hat Application Foundations provides developers with ready-to-implement components that include high-performance data streaming services, API management, service connectivity, lightweight runtimes and frameworks and more. This enables development teams to modernize their application with scalability, agility, and extensibility. These components balance flexibility and compliance, providing developers choice and efficiency through self-service tools and services. In addition to OpenShift, Red Hat Application Foundations can be used alongside software from technology ecosystem partners and in-house developed capabilities, helping organizations create the right applications to achieve their business goals.

In supporting this movement to the cloud, Red Hat Application Foundations unlocks multiple modernization patterns through microservices, APIs, event-driven architectures, and more. As application development and deployment continue to evolve, this foundation will help developers discover new and better ways to create and scale cloud native IT infrastructures. Red Hat Application Foundations supports a healthy continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipeline, permitting software development and DevOps teams to innovate smoothly together.

Availability

Red Hat Application Foundations is available now. Red Hat customers can contact their account executive to set up this bundle.

Supporting Quotes

Ken Johnson, vice president and general manager, Application Services, Red HatApplication development is undergoing significant change and developers need tools to support this transformation. We designed Red Hat Application Foundations with a developer-centric mindset, created to work seamlessly with Red Hat OpenShift to easily employ and deliver cloud-native applications, resulting in a simplified process to deliver a greater business value.

Additional Resources

Connect with Red Hat

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat is the worlds leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the companys current assumptions regarding future business and financial performance. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Any forward-looking statement in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Red Hat, the Red Hat logo and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

1 Source: IDC 750 Million New Logical Applications: More Background, Dec. 2021, Doc # US48441921

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Red Hat Expands Capabilities to Provide Streamlined Application Development and Delivery in the Cloud - Business Wire


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